Category Archives: capital punishment

What we are doing is wrong

Of all the execution methods being considered in the Mississippi senate last week, it was the firing squad that was rejected; nitrogen hypoxia and electrocution are still being considered.  Discounting the firing squad is understandable, as Radley Balko explains: “We recoil … Continue reading

Posted in capital punishment, death penalty, executions, firing squad, human rights abuse, lethal injections, Mississippi, USA, Willie Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Repressive Social and Racial Control

Two years ago the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the two murder convictions in Willie Manning’s second case, saying: “[T]he State violated his due-process rights when it failed to provide favorable, material evidence, upon request.” Willie was fortunate.  If exculpatory police canvass … Continue reading

Posted in African American, capital punishment, criminal justice, death penalty, executions, Mississippi, racial control, social control, USA, Willie Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Incarcerated by Fellow Citizens

Those on death row suffer unimaginable torture; the inmates who have been wrongly convicted do so even more. Like kidnap victims, those with wrongful convictions have been seized and held against their will; but, unlike kidnap victims, they are not … Continue reading

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Less fortunate than ourselves

It is ten years since Clive Stafford Smith alerted the world to Willie Manning’s appalling plight. Stafford Smith’s article began: “It is a platitude to suggest that as the Christmas season approaches we should consider those less fortunate than ourselves, but … Continue reading

Posted in capital punishment, criminal justice, death penalty, Death Row, death row mental health, death row solitary confinement, Fly Manning, human rights abuse, Injustice, innocence, Mississippi, USA, Willie Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

President Trump

President Obama has misgivings about the application of the death penalty; President Trump will have no such qualms. In 1989 Trump funded full page ads in four New York newspapers, calling for the return of the death penalty. The ads referred … Continue reading

Posted in capital punishment, Central Park Five, death penalty unconstitutionality, Fly Manning, Mississippi, torture, Trump, USA, Willie Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Legal Challenges to Mississippi Executions

Lawsuits about the sedative used in Mississippi’s execution protocol are, thankfully, preventing the state from resuming executions.  Jim Craig, of the MacArthur Justice Center, represents three death row inmates who are challenging the use of midazolam as a sedative. They … Continue reading

Posted in capital punishment, death penalty, execution drugs, executions, Fly Manning, lethal injection drugs, Mississippi, USA, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We will abolish the death penalty

At long last one of the two biggest US political parties has committed to abolish the death penalty! The Democratic Party proposes: “We will abolish the death penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment. … Continue reading

Posted in capital punishment, criminal justice, death penalty, Democratic Party, Mississippi, USA, Willie Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Midazolam: an Unsuitable Drug

While DNA testing and fingerprint comparison continue in Willie Manning’s case, other claims relevant to him are before the Mississippi Supreme Court. Two other death row inmates, Richard Jordan and Gerald Loden, continue to challenge attempts by the Mississippi Department … Continue reading

Posted in capital punishment, death penalty constitutionality, execution drugs, executions, Fly Manning, Injustice, lethal injection drugs, midazolam, Mississippi, USA, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Willie wouldn’t bust a grape.”

Today Willie Jerome Manning is 48. This is his 23rd birthday on death row. When Willie was a child there was little money to celebrate birthdays. A childhood friend of his family, David Skato, recalls the ‘poverty stricken’ community where they … Continue reading

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Willie’s Birthday: Another Year Endured

June 12, 2016, will mark Willie Jerome Manning’s 48th birthday. He has been held in a tiny cell on Mississippi’s death row since he was a young man of 26. It is difficult to imagine anyone more worthy of receiving … Continue reading

Posted in capital punishment, criminal justice, death penalty, Death Row, Fly Manning, Mississippi, Mississippi State Penitentiary Parchman, USA, Willie Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment